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I fear that precious little surplus value has been appropriated at the GF
in living memory...
Duncan
>Re Patrick's [OPE-L:3294]:
>
>I agree that most economists are not productive of surplus value.
>
>Those who could be classed as unproductive include:
>
>* economists who work at public universities;
>* economists who work for the state;
>* economists who are employed by corporations as advisors/researchers;
>* economists employed by trade unions;
>* economists employed by "non-profit" organizations.
>
>The largest category of economists who could be said to be
>productive of surplus value are those who work as instructors
>at private universities. Thus. e.g. Duncan could be said to
>be productive of s (at the New School University) whereas
>David L is unproductive (at Brooklyn College, a division of
>the City University of New York). In this case, though,
>Duncan is a productive labourer not as an economist but as
>an economics *teacher*.
>
>There are (or could be) economists who are also productive
>of s. E.g. a economist who works as a *writer* for a private
>publication (such as _Time_ magazine). Economists who are
>*authors* of published books might also be said to be
>productive of s (although, there is a *rent* factor that
>affects the income received by these authors). It is at
>least theoretically conceivable for economists to be employed
>as *entertainers* by a capitalist firm such as a hypothetical
>"Economist Speakers Bureau, Inc". One might indeed imagine such
>a company as being successful if they had speakers who are good
>enough performers (G.C Harcourt, for example, is quite entertaining
>and I could see him get a job as a kind of economist stand-up
>comic).
>
>Yet, take heart! It is no privilege or honor to be exploited
>by capital.
>
>In solidarity, Jerry
Duncan K. Foley
Leo Model Professor
Department of Economics
Graduate Faculty
New School University
65 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10003
(212)-229-5906
messages: (212)-229-5717
fax: (212)-229-5724
e-mail: foleyd@cepa.newschool.edu
alternate: foleyd@newschool.edu
webpage: http://cepa.newschool.edu/~foleyd
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